Time announcing system



Nov. 29, 1932. a. RAT-HG 1,839,108

TIME ANNOUNCING SYSTEM Filed July 14, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I

' INVENTOR T GPA TT/G BY W ATTORNEY Nov. 29, 1932.

I G. RATTIG TIME ANNOUNCING SYSTEM FIG. 2

Filed July 14. 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 6. RA 7' 77 G ATTORNEYPatented Nov. 29, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GERHARD RATTIG, OFNUREMBERG, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR T WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED,OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK TIME ANNOUNCING SYSTEMApplication filed July 14, 1931, Serial Nb.

, necting phonographic means in the form of films or phonograph discs toan announcing circuit.

The present invention relates to a circuit arrangement for systems ofthis type whereby certain combinations of word elements announcing thetime of day may be selected from phonographic means and transmitted toan announcing device. A feature of the invention is a series ofstep-by-step selectors controlled by a timing device to periodicallyselect recording devicesand connect said devices in succession to anannouncing means, such as a transmitter or telephone circuit to give thecorrect time of day expressed in word elements.

Another feature of this system is a circuit arrangement in which in casethe current supply for the selectors is momentarily cut ofi, the timingdevice will'control the selectors to advance to their proper positionsto select the corresponding time announcement when the current is againapplied.

Another feature of the invention is a circuit arrangement in which theselectors employed may be of any well known standard step-by-step type.

The invention has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings inconnection with a system for announcing in succession the minutes of anhour. In Fig. 1 the timing device and a series of selector switches havebeen shown for selecting the announcement to bemade each succeedingminute and in Fig. 2 a series of selectors have been shown forcontrolling the announcing in accordance with the selections made by theselectors in Fig. 1' and recording devices for transmitting the selectedannouncements.

The system represented in these figures has 550,714fand in Germany March6, 1930.

been shown in diagrammatic form and with only suificient circuitconnections indicated to give a clear conception of the system as awhole. It should be understood that this system may be equally wellapplied to announce other word element combinations such as, forexample, the hour of the day or any other desirable periodicallyrecurring announcement.

Referring now to the drawings, in Fig. 1 is showna time controlledcontact device 2 having a wiper 3 that travels over 60 contacts at therate of one contactper minute as controlled by the clock mechanism T. Inthe case assumed, sixty different announcements are to be madesuccessively and then repeated. There is, therefore, provided'sixstep-by-step switches 4 to 9 controlled by'their respective steppingmagnets 10 to 15 to be stepped in succession over their respectivegroups of ten contacts each under control of the contact device 2 andheld in their eleventh step until again controlled by the device 2.These stepby-step selectors have as many contact banks as there areseparate word elements or numbers .to be announced at any positlon.

In this case two of these switches are provided with one additionalcontact bank and the remaining four with three additional contact banksas the maximum number of word elements will be three. It has beenassumed as an example that the announcements will be made in the mannerin which corresponding German announcements are made for each minute,for example, if the 27th minute is to be announced, it will be announcedas 7 and 20 or as it is spoken in German, sieben und zwanzig. For thefirst two selectors 4 and 5 only one additional bank is necessary as thefirst 19 numbers are announced with a single word, one, two, three, etc.to nineteen, or the corresponding German numerals.

In Fig. 2 are shown a number of step-bystep selectors having ten pointseach and tions from respective reproducing devices such as 106, 107 and109 to a common pair of.conductors 110 that may lead to a receivingdevice such as a sound current loud speaker or other announcingapparatus 101. These reproducers 106, 107 and 109 and others may operateon discs or recording cylinders that have recorded on them thecorresponding word elements, for example, the recording disc 111associated with the reproducer 106 may have the word element and or und,the disc 112 may have word element twenty or zwanzig, and the disc'113may have .the word element seven or sieben inscribed therein. Thesesound current reproducing devices and the discs cooperating therewithmay be of any well known type. such as those shown in the phonographictime announcing system of the patent to J. G. Blessing, 1,227,523 of May22, 1917. Sound records and reproducing devices of this gen-- eralcharacter are also shown in the phonographic call announcing system ofthe patent to A. E. Lundell 1,277,440 of September 3,

1918. In this patent a call announcing device is employed to announcetelephone numerals or other information through a telephone receiver toan operator. In this particular embodiment of the switches 100 therewill be one switch bank for each numeral up to 19, and one for eachnumeral, 20, 30, 40 and 50 and an extra one for the word and. All ofthese switches will control, as stated,

their individual relays and reprodu cers for their corresponding wordelement records.

Itshould be understood that these various step-by-step selectors andcontact device 2 may be of any well known construction such as the usualstep-b-y-step switches employed in the automatic telephone art.

A description of the operation of this s stem will now be made inconnection with the successive operation of the switches 4 to 9 and thespecific example of announcing the tlme twenty-seven, or as it is spokenin German sieben und zwanzig. It is assumed that the wiper 3 of thecontact device 2 has just been advanced fromthe zero or sixty minutecontact to the first contact, and that the wiper of switch 4 rests onthe zero contact. A

circuit will now be completed as follows: battery, Winding of relay 16,wiper of switch 4 and the zero contact, the first contact of device 2and the wiper 3 to ground. If, now, the wiper 3 is advanced to thesecond contact at the end of the first minute, relay 16 will'release. Acircuit is thereby closed for the stepping magnet 10 of. switch 4 frombattery, winding of magnet 10, armature and back contact of relay 17 toground at the armature and back contact of relay 16. Magnet 10 operatesand attracts its armature, and

switches the wiper of switch 4to the first con- .tact position. Thismagnet also operates its armature to close a circuit for the energize.-

ground on wiper 3 at the second position.

The magnet 10 will now remain released due to the opening of theoriginal circuit therefor by relay 16 in energizing. Relay 17 isreleased as soon as magnet 10 releases. When, now,

the wiper 3 advances to the third position, relay 16 will againrelease'and stepping magnet 10 again operates to cause the advance ofthe wiper of switch 4 to the second position, and to cause the operationof relay 17 which releases the magnet 10 and causes the reoperation ofrelay 16. These opega tions are repeated until the wiper of switch 4 hasreached the ninth position or the ninth contact when it is advanced tothe tenth position. At thetenth position, relay 16 does not find aground connection, as the tenth terminal is not connected to the device2 and the magnet 10 is'therefore on the release of relay 17, againpermitted to take another step to advance the wiper of switch 4 to theeleventh position. At this position relay 16 finds a ground connectionas follows: from the ground at the off-normal con tact 18 of switch 9,eleventh terminal of switch 4, wiper of this switch, winding of relay 16to battery. Relay 16 operates 1n this position and prevents the magnet10 from operating further at this time. Switch 4 will now rest in theeleventh position until all the other switches 5 to 9 have operated,when it will again be operated to take a step to bring its wiper inconnection with the zero terminal. In the eleventh position of switch 4,the corresponding ofi-normal contact 19 is opened so that relay 20 ofswitch 5 which has been held operated by ground from this off-normalcontact 19 is now released. This permits a circuit to be closed for thestepping magnet 11 to advance the wiper of switch 5 to the zeroposition. In this position relay 20 will again be operated from groundon wiper 3 in position 11 to prevent the magnet 11 from taking anotherstep until the wiper 3 has advancedto position 12. When this happensrelay 20 releases to step magnet 11 to advance the wiper of switch 5 'tothe first position. The switch 5 is now stepped in the same manner asswitch 4 and when the eleventh position is reached, the correspondingoff-normal contact 21 will operate to release relay 22 of switch 6. Whenthe last switch 9 has operated'to the eleventh position. the off-normalcontact 18 will open the circuit for relay 16 to cause the operation ofswitch 4 to be repeated. It will, therefore, be seen that the switches 4to 9 will be stepped around in succession once for every 30 minutes, onestep at a time, and while one switch is in operation the remaining fivewill be held in the eleventh position.

If the battery for the operation of these switches should be temporarilyremoved, then the switches after the battery is again connected, willsuccessively be actuated to step up into synchronism with the device 2.This is accomplished in the following manner. If

relay 16, for example, is deprived of current when the wiper of switch 4has been stepped to the second position, the switch will step in thisposition until battery is again connected. When this takes place magnet10 will again operate to step the switch 4 another step and operaterelay 17 which in turn releases the magnet 10. This will continue untilthe switch has caught up with the wiper 3 when relay 16 will operate andthe switch 4 will then be controlled as hereinbefore described to stepin synchronism with wiper 3. If the wiper 3 is advanced beyond the firstten steps into the second group of ten contacts before battery is againapplied, switch 5 will be automatically advanced until this switch isstepped into synchronism with wiper 3. This system, therefore, alwaysadjusts itself automatically to synchronous operation with the timecontrolled contact device 2 after the battery has'been restored to thecircuit.

The announcing of the series of word elements by means of the selectors100 and the reproducing devices shown in Fig. 2, will now be describedwith the aid of the example of a time announcement seven and twenty oras it is spoken in German sieben und zwanzig. When the selector 6 hasadvanced to the seventh position, the circuit connections fromthebrushes of the terminal banks 25,. 28 and 29 of this switch areconnected-as shown to selectors 115, 116 and 117. In this positioncircuits will be closed for connecting the reproducers 109. 106 and 107in succession to the conductors 110 by the operation-of relays 105, 103and 104 in succession, when the brushes of these selectors 115, 116 and118 are advanced simultaneously from one position to the other; Thesereproducers will consequently cause sound currents to be produced in theconductors 110 in accordance with the word elements inscribed on thediscs 113; 111 and 112. These sound currents will in turn causecorresponding sounds to be produced by the loud speaker 101 connected tothe conductors 110. The sound effects in the case assumed consist of theword elements sieben und zwanzig. In the particular position of theswitches 100; as shown in Fig. 2. it is assumed that switch 115 makesthe first connection to close a circuit for relay 105 from battery,winding of this relay, the brush of switch 115 and its last positionterminal, conductor 120 through connecting rack as 122 to the seventhposition terminal and brush of bank 25, the common switch 26 to ground.Relay 105 in operating closes its contacts to connect the reproducer 109to the conductors 110 and the word element sieben will then be announcedby the loud speaker 101. At the next step of the switches 100,

switch 116 will close a connection for relay 103 from battery, windingof this relay, brush of switch 118 and the first position terminal toconductor 123, through the connecting rack 122 to the seventh positionterminal and brush of bank 28, switch 126 to ground. Relay 103 will thenclose a connection from reproducer 106 to the conductors 110 to causethe word element und to be announced by the loud speaker 101. Similarly,on the next step of the switches 100, the. switch 117 will have itsbrush on the second position terminal and thereby close a similarcircuit for the operation of relay 104 from battery, winding of thisrelay, the brush and the second terminal of bank 117, conductor 124through connecting rack 122 to the seventh terminal and brush of bank 29through switch 26 to ground. Relay 104 in operating closes a connectionfor the reproducer 107 to conductors 110 to cause the word elementzwanzig to be announced by the loud speaker 101. As the switches 100proceed new combinations will be set up to cause succeeding combinationsof word elements to be announced. During the next minute the wordelements acht und zwanzig will be announced in succession and eachsucceeding announcement will therefore represent an elapsed minute.

What is claimed is:

1. In an announcing system, a clock controlled contact device, aplurality of step-byi step selectors, means controllable by said contactdevice for operating said selectors for a number of steps each insuccession, sound current reproducing means, a transmitting circuit,means for connecting said reproducing means to said transmittingcircuit, and means operable in response to the operation of saidselectors for controlling said connecting means to operate periodically.

2. In an announcing system. a clock controlled contact device, aplurality of step-by-' step selectors, means controllable by saidcontact device for operating said selectors for a number of steps eachin succession, and periodically, sound current reproducing means, atransmitting circuit, meansfor connecting said reproducing means to saidtransmitting circuit, and means operable in response to the operationofsaid selectors for controlling said connecting means to operateperiodically.

3. In an announcing system, a clock controlled contact device, aplurality of step bystep selectors, means controllable by said contactdevice for operating said selectors for a number of steps each insuccession and periodically, sound current reproducing means,

a transmitting circuit, means for connecting said reproducing means tosaid transmitting circuit and means operable in response to theoperation of said selectors for controlling said connecting means tooperate once for each step ofeach of said selectors.

4. In an announcing system, a clock controlled contact device, aplurality of step-bystep selectors, means controlled by said contactdevice for operating said selectors for a number of steps each insuccession, sound current reproducing means, a transmitting circuit,relays for connecting corresponding reproducing means to said soundtransmitting circuit, other step-by-step selectors and circuit meanstherefor efl'ective in response to operations of said first mentionedselectors for actuating said relays.

5; In an announcing system, a clock controlled contact device, aplurality of step-bystep selectors, means controlled by said contactdevice for operating said selectors for a number of steps each insuccession, sound current reproducing means, a transmitting circuit,relays for connecting corresponding reproducing means to saidtransmitting circuit, other step-by-step selectors and circuit meanstherefor eitective in response to operations of said first mentionedselectors for actuating said relays in successive combinations.

6. In an announcing system, a clock controlled contact device, aplurality of step-bystep selectors, means controlled by said contactdevice for operating said selectors for a number of steps each insuccession, sound current reproducing means, a transmitting-circuit,relays for connecting corresponding reproducing means to saidtransmitting circuit, other step-by-step selectors and circuit meanstherefor effective in response to operations of said first mentionedselectors for actuating said relays in successive combinationsrepeatedly.

7. In an announcing system, a clock controlled contact device, aplurality of step-bystep selectors, means controlled by said contactdevice for operating said selectors for a numberof steps each insuccession, sound current reproducing means, a transmitting circuit,relays for connecting corresponding reproducing means to saidtransmitting circuit, other step-by-step selectors and circuit meanstherefor effective in response to operations of said first mentionedselectors for actuating said relays in successive combinations, onerelay at the time and one combination of relays for each step of each ofthe first mentioned selectors.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name, this 12th day of June,1931.

GERHARD RliTTIG.

